Tackle your boss with tact & finesse

MUMBAIYou have to take the call — loyalty towards the company or the boss — especially when the two are conflicting in nature. So if your position in the organisation is dependent on your equation with the boss and you don’t mind picking up your boss’s children from school or buying movie tickets for his family, then there’s no reason to crib. However, if you don’t like getting ensnared in these trivial errands that make you feel small and prevent you from delivering at work, then these are a few things you could do with:

See your boss’s style, then convey your message Is he direct and open in broaching a subject or prefers to be indirect? Assess his personal style and then react. If he believes in being direct then just make him realise your duties and responsibilities and tell him that the extra tasks are affecting your performance. If you have to be indirect in the approach then you could be polite and refuse. You could say: “I’d want to help, but the project is really keeping me busy.” The chances are that, he should get the hint, but be discreet and don’t stretch it to the extent of antagonising him.

Negotiate current assignmentIf the direct and indirect approach don’t make things work out then you may need to negotiate with the boss. Get his attention to some important work that you haven’t been able to give time to. Be firm and question him whether his task could wait. “My boss was pestering me to book flight tickets for his wife at the cost of my work. I had to be firm and ask him if he wanted me to stop making the sales call and that got him worried about his own targets,” says Divya Lalwani, who was earlier working for a brokerage firm.

Trade off with higher responsibilitiesDon’t miss an opportunity to bargain when a bigger project comes your way. You have to convey to your boss that you won’t be available at all times to furnish his requests. You should make your stance clear: “If you are entrusting me with this project, I must tell you that with the way things are at the moment, it will be difficult for me to put my best foot forward.” Any sensible boss concerned about his own performance and dependent on his team members, will understand.

The last resortIf you have tried everything and nothing seems to work for you, then look out for a job and an organisation that don’t expect you to cater to personal favours may suit your requirements. “We in our appointment letters mention upfront that politics at workplace is not acceptable,” says Kotak Mahindra Bank human resources executive vice-president Subhro Bhaduri. If only companies could put the same upfront in the letters, ‘worry about your work and not the bosses whims.”